No Abstract Available.
Blepharoptosis* ; Silicones*

Fetal abnormalities in central nervous system are now recognized more often with the increasing use of high-resolution prenatal sonography. Arachnoid cysts, because of their compression of adjacent brain tissue, may require neurosurgical intervention but otherwise they have a good long- term prognosis. The differential diagnosis of intracranial lesions is important to allow accurate counselling and also to optimize neonatal management. We report the two cases of fetal arachnoid cyst diagnosed with prenatal ultrasonography
Arachnoid Cysts ; Arachnoid* ; Brain ; Central Nervous System ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Prenatal Diagnosis ; Prognosis ; Ultrasonography ; Ultrasonography, Prenatal*

The friction of orthodontic appliances is recognized to be detrimental to tooth movement. The purpose of this study was to determine the magnitude of frictional force changes between bracket(018"X025" solt) and orthodontic wires(stainless steel, cobalt-chromium. and beta-titanium, 017"X0.25" rectangular) with time. The wire was secured in the bracket slot with a elastomeric ligature. Frictional forces were measured by universal testing machine. The following conclusions were obtained. 1. The frictional forces under dry condition were greater than those in saliva. 2. The frictional forces produced by cobalt-chromium wire were less than those generated by stainless steel and beta-titanium wire. 3. The frictional forces increased progressively with time, and the amount of increase on first two weeks was greater than on last two weeks. 4. The change of frictional force under dry condition was greater than in artificial saliva.
Elastomers ; Friction* ; Ligation ; Orthodontic Appliances ; Orthodontic Wires* ; Saliva ; Saliva, Artificial* ; Stainless Steel ; Steel ; Tooth Movement

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of ferritin-folate-cyanocobalamin supplementation for prevention of anemia during pregnancy. METHODS: The authors conducted a clinical investigation on 50 pregnant women from 20th to 36th gestational weeks. The cobination of cyanocobalamin coenzyme 500mg, folic coenzyme 800mcg, and ferritin 20mg constituted the supplementation. The parameters examined in first trimester as baseline, before treatment(at 20th weeks), and after treatment(at 36th weeks) were : hemoglobin, hematocrit, ferritin, mean corpuscular hemoglobin(MCH), mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration(MCHC), mean corpuscular volume(MCV), red blood cell count(RDW), folic acid, and vit. BPaired sample t-test was used for comparison. RESULTS: The results indicated a significant increase in the value of hemoglobin(p<0.05) and hematocrit(p<0.01) in comparison to before and after the treatment. The values of serum ferritin, folic acid, vitamin Bwere increased after the treatment compared to those of before the treatment, though there was no statistical significance. The results of MCV, MCH, MCHC, and RDW showed no statistically significant in comparison to before and after the treatment. CONCLUSIONS: These data indicate that supplementing ferritin 20mg-folate 800mcg-cyanocobalamine 500mcg per day from 20th to 36th weeks' gestation can increase values of hemoglobin, hematocrit, and ferritin concentration and can be cosidered as an appropriate method to prevent iron deficient anemia. It also might increase the value of folic acid and vitamin B12, concentration, but further study is stiU needed to determine whether the supplementation of folate and cyanocobalamine in combination with iron can have better eflicacy than iron alone in prevention of iron deficiency anemia.
Anemia* ; Anemia, Iron-Deficiency ; Erythrocyte Indices ; Erythrocytes ; Female ; Ferritins* ; Folic Acid* ; Hematocrit ; Humans ; Iron ; Pregnancy Trimester, First ; Pregnancy* ; Pregnant Women ; Vitamin B 12* ; Vitamins

Urea accumulation in the renal inner medulla plays a key role in the maintenance of maximal urinary concentrating ability. Urea transport in the kidney is mediated by transporter proteins that include renal urea transporter (UT-A) and erythrocyte urea transporter (UT-B). UT-A1 and UT-A2 are produced from the same gene. There is an active tonicity-responsive enhancer (TonE) in the promoter of UT-A1, and the UT-A1 promoter is stimulated by hypertonicity via tonicity-responsive enhancer binding protein (TonEBP). The downregulation of UT-A2 raises the possibility that TonEBP also regulates its promoter. There is some evidence that TonEBP regulates expression of UT-A in vivo; (1) during the renal development of the urinary concentrating ability, expression of TonEBP precedes that of UT-A1; (2) in transgenic mice expressing a dominant negative form of TonEBP, expression of UT-A1 and UT-A2 is severely impaired; (3) in treatment with cyclosporine A, TonEBP was significantly downregulated after 28 days. This downregulation involves mRNA levels of UT-A2; (4) in hypokalemic animals, downregulation of TonEBP contributed to the down regulation of UT-A in the inner medulla. These data support that TonEBP directly contributes to the urinary concentration and renal urea recycling by the regulation of urea transporters.
Animals ; Carrier Proteins* ; Cyclosporine ; Down-Regulation ; Erythrocytes ; Kidney ; Mice ; Mice, Transgenic ; Recycling ; RNA, Messenger ; Urea*

No abstract available.
Heterotaxy Syndrome*

We investigated a prospective study to compare the effects of single or combined use of three commonly used anti-platelet agents; aspirin, ticlopidine and trapidil, on the platelet aggregation. Total 78 patients admitted to the neurology ward of Yonsei University Hospital with acute ischemic stroke were randomly divided into 7 groups .The blood was drawn from these patients before and a week after the prescription of anti-platelet agents pertinent to each group. Platelet aggregation was measured by using a platelet aggregometer (Chrono-Log Lumi Aggregometer Model 400) after addition o f adenosine diphosphite (ADP), collagen, epinephrine, ant platelet activating factor (PAF) on the platelet rich plasma. The results showed that 1) trapidil most effectively inhibited platelet aggregation by PAF, 2) aspirin and/or ticlopidine were superior to trapidil for the inhibitory effect on platelet aggregation by ADP. Collagen and epinephrine. 3) all three drug combination therapy successfully inhibited platelet aggregation by ADP. Collagen, epinephrine and PAF. Therefore. This in-vitro study suggests that combined use of anti-platelet agents having different mechanisms may provide more effective anti-platelet act;ons in acute ischemic stroke patients.
Adenosine ; Adenosine Diphosphate ; Ants ; Aspirin ; Blood Platelets ; Collagen ; Epinephrine ; Humans ; Neurology ; Platelet Activating Factor ; Platelet Aggregation ; Platelet-Rich Plasma ; Prescriptions ; Prospective Studies ; Stroke ; Ticlopidine ; Trapidil

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Eosinophil is a major inflammatory cell in allergic diseases and parasitic infestations. Various cytokines such as GM-CSF, IL-3 and IL-5 are known to activate eosinophils and prolong their survival. Among them, IL-5 is the most potent stimulator of eosinophil survival. Recently, it was reported that increased expression of Bcl-2 is related to prolonged survival of IL-5 stimulated eosinophil. Theophylline is a useful drug in bronchial asthma, due not only to bronchial dilation but also to its anti-inflammatory effects. It has been suggested that anti inflammatory action of theophylline derives from the reduction of inflammatory cells in the airways which is mechated by stimulat on of apoptosis of inflammatory cells. In this study, we investigated, by measuring Bcl-2 expression of IL-5 stimulated eosinophil, the effect of theophylline on apoptosis as one of the anti-inflammatory action. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Peripheral eosinophils were isolated from atopic patients by using Perco- 11 discontinuous gradient and purified by negative selection technique using MACS. Eosinophil viability and apoptosis were measured by FACscan. Expression of Bcl-2 protein in eosinophils was detected by Western blot and ELISA. RESULTS: IL-5 increased the percentage of viable eosinophils and reduced the apoptosis of eosinophils in a dose dependent manner. The increased survival of IL-5 stimulated eosinophils was reduced by theophylline via activation of apoptosis. Bcl-2 was increased when eosinophils were cultured with IL-5 only, but when theophylline was cocultured, reduced Bcl-2 was seen with Western blot and ELISA. CONCLUSION: IL-5 increases the survival of eosinophil through the enhanced expression of Bcl- 2. Theophylline has counter action against IL-5 via inhibition of Bcl-2 induced by IL-5. Inhibiting the prolongation of eosinophil survival caused by IL-5 might be one possible mechanism of antiinflammatory effects of theophylline.
Apoptosis ; Asthma ; Blotting, Western ; Cytokines ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Eosinophils* ; Granulocyte-Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factor ; Humans ; Interleukin-3 ; Interleukin-5 ; Theophylline*

Most of dural arteriovenous malformations(D-AVM's) are known to be an acquired lesion developed by a previously thrombosed dural sinus. They are usually no greater than 1 or 2 cm in size and most often present as spontaneous intracranial hematoma in fifth and sixth decades of life. We had surgical experiences of an unusual case of a 8 cm sized dural AVM in an infancy presented with a large scalp mass and two other cases presented with spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage and subdural hematoma.
Cerebral Hemorrhage ; Hematoma ; Hematoma, Subdural ; Scalp

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to present a systematic treatment method for nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) infection of the hand and wrist to gain better clinical outcomes. METHODS: 10 patients of deep NTM infection of the hand and wrist were reviewed. Extensive debridement was performed in all cases. When biopsy result suggested mycobacterial infection such as granulomatous inflammation, empirical tuberculosis medication was started. After culture confirmed NTM growth, the species was identified and in vitro sensitivity test was performed. Then medication was switched according to the results. Functional outcomes of the hand and wrist were measured by total active motion of the fingers and by range of motion of the wrist respectively. RESULTS: Diagnosis was tenosynovitis in seven patients, infective arthritis and osteomyelitis combined with tenosynovitis of the wrist in three patients. Two patients had recurred skin ulcer during follow-up period and undergone second debridement. After second operation, no patient had a persistent discharging sinus and all patient were completely healed during follow-up period. Functional outcome of the eight patients who had NTM infection of their hand was excellent in two, good in four, fair in one, poor in one. Mean range of motion of the two patients who had osteomyelitis of their wrist was dorsiflexion 20degrees, volar flexion 15degrees, radial deviation 0degrees, ulnar deviation 15degrees. CONCLUSION: Our standardized treatment protocol can be helpful for treatment of deep NTM infection of the hand and wrist.
Arthritis ; Biopsy ; Clinical Protocols ; Debridement ; Diagnosis* ; Fingers ; Follow-Up Studies ; Hand* ; Humans ; Inflammation ; Nontuberculous Mycobacteria* ; Osteomyelitis ; Range of Motion, Articular ; Skin Ulcer ; Tenosynovitis ; Tuberculosis ; Wrist*